Introduction and Understanding Light

Want to be master studio lighting? First, you need to understand light itself…

In this opening chapter of our Lighting Theory and Equipment course, you’ll discover the fundamentals of light, equipping yourself with the knowledge you need to start getting amazing results with your lights.

Through a series of easy-to-follow visual demonstrations, you’ll learn about the practicalities of light, exploring the different effects hard and soft light have on shadows, texture and three-dimensionality. You’ll also learn how to achieve precise control over reflections, shadows and highlights.

Karl’s explanation and demonstration of the inverse square law, as well as of the colour spectrum of light, will equip you with crucial knowledge that will set you up for success in the studio and beyond!

In this class:

  • Different light sources and their effects
  • Hard light vs soft light
  • Careful control of light and shadows
  • Using reflectors and negative fill
  • Revealing texture
  • Inverse square law
  • Colour spectrum of light

If you enjoy this class, check out A Deeper Understanding of the Inverse Square Law and Angles of Incidence and Reflection.

Questions? Please post them in the comments section below.

Comments

  1. Hi Karl,
    Very nice tuto and explanations.
    Rebouncing on my other post, my goal was not to replace a 180x120cm softbox by a 80x60cm one but use two softboxes or octabox 65-85cm size with different powers. they should be easier to handle/move on site, travel, install (rapidbox, magbox,ezglow…) to fill the hard shadows.
    In that idea i am looking if clamshell could be helpful in some cases (not for corporate on a desk).
    best regards
    marc

    1. Hi Karl,
      Thank you for your tutorials.
      I have a question about lighting. I want to make a mini-studio in the corner of my living room
      It’s like a box surrounded by white on all 3 sides.
      There is a double window and one smaller wall (1,5mx2,5m) on the left and one bigger wall on right (2mx2,5m), all in white.
      Is it enough to color in dark one wall or should I color both walls?
      Thank you

      2. Hi, I think you need to watch a few more classes in our ‘Lighting Theory’ section as you seem to have misunderstood some basic concepts of ambient light in relation to flash. Your windows will make little difference. Your white walls will make a difference if in a small area so yes these are always best in mid grey or darker.

    2. Hi Marclabro, I’m sorry I’ve been away and just got back can you remind me on your other post as I’ve had so many questions to answer I’ve lost track!

  2. As a photographer for many decades and having taken some time away I decided I wanted to rejoin with what gives me so much fulfillment in life and so I figured why not start at the very beginning and push aside what I had previously learnt as a self taught photographer and be open and teachable from someone who is such a marvelous instructor, someone who has a wealth of knowledge gained from years of personal experience and is also so eloquent in speech. I humbly admit that I was taught and taught very well Karl.

    You have a gift. Not only are you a very accomplished photographer but you have a way of explaining what you love in a way that people of all levels can understand and be enthused to “have a go” which is wonderful. Thank you for sharing your talent with so many.

    Mike

  3. This is the best class I’ve had on lighting in terms of photography, I’ve learned a lot, and this is only the introduction! Looking forward to the rest of the course. This introduction has peaked my interest in learning about light in general, do you have any recommendations on books on the topic for further reading?

    1. Hi CharClar, I’m glad you enjoyed this class. You will also enjoy the new ‘inverse square law’ class in the getting started in product photography section as well as many others. With regards books the answer is no which is why I created this platform simply because there was never any concise science based information on the art of professional photography. Also check out some of our live show replays as I’ve covered many topics indepth live on our platform.

  4. Good day Karl,

    I have a Godox AD200 Strobe. I have an 80 cm x 80 cm soft box. Can I still be able to use a larger rectangular soft box (e.g. 120 – 150 cm) and light efficiently. I’m working with a very small budget.

    1. Hi, Yes you may have to increase your ISO slightly but changing from 100 to 200 ISO essentially makes your light become an AD400 and changing from 200 to 400 ISO would then make it become an AD800 so often you can overcome the problem by adjusting your ISO.

  5. Unmatched level of instruction. No funny business. This entire system is a game-changer and as time goes on I believe it will be recognized more and more as the definitive online resource for professional photography science instruction. Bravo!

      1. Hi Karl,

        After I watched your Youtube videos, I knew, I was watching an expert and had to buy your class. You are the best photography teacher. You are clear and direct and although I’m in school, you provide more details than instructors can provide in a limited class. I appreciate you and have learned items that were unclear from the basic photography classes in the past. And you are helping me with my British accent as well. Pronunciation is on point! lol! I have shared your info with others as well.
        Adam

  6. Brilliant explanation of light with great examples! Particularly enjoyed the bit when you introduced the scrim and how the distance of the source light to the scrim affects specular high lights and graduation of light.

  7. Hi Karl

    Have just watched the colour checker video and it became crystal clear how to neutralise the colour.

  10. I have to admit watched this course again after 2 years since I joined KTE.
    Points mentioned about light/lighting are like a thumb rule. ( PHYSICS )

    Let me be honest here, I haven’t understood it that much when I had watched it the first time. ( probably didn’t realize what I had missed )
    But now, when I came here again I knew I was looking for some pointers to ‘specularity’ when lighting through a scrim. It’s there IN HERE, so clearly mentioned, probably didn’t realize it back then how much that parameter is important in studio photography.

    Wow! Karl, thanks for making this video.

    1. Thank you Sanket, glad you revisited it. We have more technical and physics related lighting courses coming soon!

  11. Karl

    Thank you for explaining the detail of light and it’s affects. It’s will open up a wide range of photography that I never knew about. You bring passion into your videos and really get the point across so that it’s easy to understand. Keep up the great work.

  13. Recently joined and this video was so informative that I feel 100x more knowledgable and cant wait to learn more

    1. Thanks for joining and we have plenty more for you to enjoy. Also check out some of our previous and upcoming live shows! Welcome aboard.

  14. This was my first video after subscribing and wow, this fundamentals of lighting is fantastic. I’m going to watch it at least twice until it sinks in. Watching the demonstrations, I find I have preferences already (soft boxes) which means I subtly ignore the info about other great options (light from scrim). I’ll circle back to get all the learning and overcome my bias.

    Thank you for the Goldilocks pace and depth of your teaching style.

  15. Signed up after seeing a few of your YouTube videos. I have an online store and have been told that my pictures need to be better. I am my model so I am hoping to get some better photos with your instruction. I finally got my home studio set up so now its time to learn. Camera is not top notch but I did my best. Sure they will come out better than my phone anyway. Fingers crossed that I can learn at least enough so they are at least website worthy!!

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